Whispering Earth

A while ago, Holly left a comment asking where I buy my herbal and medicine making supplies from. I thought I’d share this in a post in case anyone else is seeking out good suppliers. This post will mostly be of relevance to those in the UK, though many companies will of course ship internationally if you can’t find anything similar where you live.

Supplies

Dried Herbs and Tinctures: Of course the hedgerow is the first stop for many of my herbs but there will always be times when you need to buy in extra herbs or ones you haven’t had time to harvest yourself. Unfortunately many companies who supply in bulk sell to practitioners only, but two I use that sell to the general public are Cotswolds Herbs, who have good quality dried herbs and at very reasonable prices though much of their stock is not organic, and The Organic Herb Trading Company, who stock a full range of organic herbs though they only take orders of £50 or more. For small quantities of dried herb or tinctures Baldwins or Neal’s Yard are probably your best bets. This does work out much more expensive in the long run though so it’s always worth clubbing together with a few other people and buying in bulk.

Herbal Plants and Seeds: Growing your own herbs is so much fun and gives you chance to get to know plants that you don’t meet in your local rambles. There are a few nurseries and stockists that do a good range of seeds and/ or young plants including Suffolk Herbs, Herbal Haven and Poyntzfield Nursery. Jekka’s Herb Farm do a great range of herbs though, as I had a bad experience the first time I ordered from them, I tend to look elsewhere first.

Essential Oils and Base Oils: Essential oils can be bought from Materia Aromatica who do a range of lovely organic oils. On the high street Neal’s Yard are also good though not quite as pure.

You can get some good quality base oils, such as olive or sesame, from the health food store or supermarket, as long as you make sure they are cold pressed and organic. For other organic base oils I go to Materia Aromatica again or, for non-organic oils, Baldwins or Aromantic do a good selection, though I have found the quality to be inferior to the organic ones. Base oils are fatty oils and, as plants store toxins in their fat cells, it’s best to get organic if possible.

Bottles and Jars: I get empty jars and small dropper bottles from Essentially Oils or Baldwins who also stock tincture bottles and other useful sundries such as measuring cylinders.

Other Bits and Pieces: For other kinds of herbal preparations I buy my cider vinegar from the local farm shop,  my witch hazel distillate from Aromantic and my honey from these amazing people at Pyrenees honey who stock the yummiest raw and organic honey I’ve tried. They do a local Sussex one from the allotments which I use most often as well as a range of delicious flavours (try the oak honey, it’s incredible) from Spain which are lovely for a treat.

I hope that list was useful to some people and if anyone has any of their own recommendations, please let us know in the comments below.